A Silent Love
by UhurA-star
Summary: Ginny and Draco become good friends Ginny's fifth year, and this friendship grows to something more. As they discover each other, they face the difficult chanllenges intertwined with love.
1. Chapter 1

In the Beginning

Ginny roamed aimlessly through the halls. Binns' class always bored the pants off her and lately she had taken to wandering the lonelier places of Hogwarts in place of dozing off in History of Magic. A soft moan of suffering echoed down the corridor. At first Ginny thought she was imagining it. This time of day didn't usually warrant such strange occurrences. But then she heard it again and froze. Te noise was human and male. As Ginny took up walking again she sped up and headed for what came to be the source: a boy's lavatory. Ginny was modest yet curious and this got the better of her. She burst in and came to see a young boy huddled over a sink. His whispered, tortured moans had subsided into struggling breaths. After a moment, Ginny realized there was also the translucent figure of a girl younger than she was who was hovering over the boys' shoulder

"There, there," Myrtle crooned. "It'll be okay. You can figure it out."

She looked up into the mirror over the sink and smoothed her hair. In the reflection, Myrtle spotted Ginny and gave a little gasp.

"Ginny," she said wearily. "I've not seen you in ages."

The boy gave a start at Myrtles address and looked up to catch Ginny's gaze in the reflection. Ginny started and stepped back, mortified or terrified, she didn't know. For looking at her through red-rimmed eyes was, not a young boy at all, but Draco Malfoy. Ginny was shocked. She had heard Malfoys moans? Malfoys stuttering breaths? He turned slowly and Ginny's hand instinctively flew to her wand but she did not draw it. For when Malfoy met her gaze once again, she saw that this was not the enemy she had inherited from her brother. This was someone completely different, vulnerable, and stricken. This, Ginny supposed, was not "Malfoy," bur Draco.

She composed herself from this strange revelation and cleared her throat.

"I'm sorry, I thought you were hurt," she mumbled.

For some reason Draco swore. Myrtle chastised him. He drew himself up and Ginny looked away for a moment as she considered fleeing or taunting him. However, when she looked up at him, deciding to wait for some response, Draco swept his shiny blond hair from his face. The blue-gray eyes no longer displayed any sign of inward pain. The pale skin recalled none of the blotched red marks of distress that had existed a moment ago.

_Nonverbal spells._ Ginny thought. The sixth years had been working diligently on them in nearly all their classes, according to Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Draco seemed to have mastered even the vainest of the charms.

As they stared at each other, for both were unwilling to make the first move, Ginny noticed just how beautiful Draco was. She had always thought of Harry as a handsome young man. But the adolescent in front of her was a step above, as much as she hated to admit it. Even in this uncomfortable setting, he exhumed confidence in a stony-faced and ridged-backed way. His black robes, emblazoned with the Slytherin crest and Prefects badge, did not hang off his shoulders dully, but seemed to have been dropped onto his body in a quite flattering way. Ginny suddenly felt sheepish in her robes and glanced over Draco's shoulder to check her hair. It seemed absurd that her simple state should be embarrassing, when he was wearing nearly the same thing. Ginny felt she scrutinized his beauty for hours and burned red. However, this meeting had lasted only moments for Draco.

He had also been running his eyes fluidly over the girl in front of him. Her rosy lips were parted and looked astonishing against her milky skin, which was dotted with freckles. This Weasley had flowing red hair that fell softly upon her shoulders in loose waves. The color contrasted brilliantly with the black robes covering her. Draco suddenly felt the need to know just what those robes were hiding and he blinked rapidly to clear his head. She had just found him weeping like a lost child, being comforted by that moping ghost of a girl who seemed to have disappeared unnoticed down a toilet after saying her small piece to the Weasley.

Draco cleared his throat and the world seemed to snap back into place. The girl was still standing a bit shocked in the stone frame of the small hall which led to the wooden door to the corridor. He took several steps towards that door with sweeping false confidence. The Weasley stood in the middle of the small hall and turned to allow Draco space to pass just as Draco also turned. But he misjudged the space in his rush to reach the corridor. Draco flew neatly past the Weasley in slow motion. They both seemed suspended in a second of time where they were facing each other and made astonishing eye contact.

But then the second was over. Draco said softly, "Excuse me," in a voice not completely his own. And then he opened the door and strode swiftly into the corridor just as a rumble of other students in the castle signaled the end of class.

Ginny was frozen in shock. Had that really been Malfoy? Or some strange apparition created in her lonely mind. She settled for the faint madness of the latter. It couldn't have been a real occurrence. Malfoy had said, "Excuse me!"

Ginny shook her head lightly and turned to go just as a 2nd year boy came into the bathroom and stared at her in surprise.

"Wrong door," Ginny said with a sudden grin and brushed past the boy who simply looked petrified.


	2. Chapter 2

**The Quidditch Pitch**

The game, Gryffindor versus Slytherin, went by somewhat quickly. Harry caught the snitch before Malfoy ever stood a chance. They had not played Slytherin in quite a while. The games were just suspended repeatedly. Harry thought it had been because Malfoy was busy making his "plans". Although, after the days match, it was a wonder Malfoy had decided to play this game at all. Ginny had not seen him so close up since their incident in the bathroom, which she had spoken to no one about. Harry had become quite a nuisance with his obsession over Malfoys comings and goings.

At that moment, the thoughts in Ginny's head seemed to come to life before her eyes. Malfoy was stomping across her field of vision toward a small thicket outside the forest. She watched him. He was still in his Quidditch robes and held his broomstick in a tight fist. His hair was swept back and slightly disheveled from flying into a strong wind. Malfoy seemed to be berating himself, muttering and pounding the ground much harder than necessary. But what could be wrong?

It did not matter, Ginny told herself. They had shared one silly moment together the day before, and it had barely been even a moment. She sighed and turned to head up to the castle.

But then an unexpected hand grabbed her shoulder and she jumped. Ginny wheeled around, drawing her wand from an inside pocket. But the hand had fallen to Malfoy's side and he stood looking at her wand tip, which was directly in front of his chin.

"There's no need for wands, Weasley," he said coldly, thrusting the wand away from his face. "I simply wanted to talk."

Ginny was about to lower her wand voluntarily. She put it back inside her robes, sniffed at Malfoy's manner and said, "What about?"

Of course, she knew, though, that this was of a personal topic, and resided to take better care of her tone.

"What you witnessed yesterday," he said softly, speaking as though of a horrible crime. Ginny made eye contact with him wearily and he leaned towards her, a little threateningly and put his mouth very close to her ear. "You are not to speak of it to anyone, is that clear?"

"I wasn't going to," Ginny blurted out defensively. She had no reason to disclose Malfoys distress except to ridicule him and Ginny was not the time.

"Fine," Malfoy sneered very much like Snape. "But if I discovered that you have, you will have much to fear."

"Will I be fearing the same thing you are?" Ginny asked snidely. To hell with manners.

Draco stiffened and looked at her venomously.

"No," he said sharply.

Ginny looked at Malfoy. He had something she could not describe in his eyes. Worry? Distrust? This emotion was clearly unnatural for him.

"Just keep your mouth shut, Weasley, and you won't have any problems," Malfoy huffed. He took a step away from Ginny but kept his eyes locked on hers. His gaze was so intense, so full of that anonymous emotion that Ginny had to look away.

"Fine, Malfoy," she said as proudly as she could while still averting her eyes.

Malfoy turned sharply and strode away, back to the pitch, the moon rising in front of him and his broom still clutched in his hand.

And from then on, Draco Malfoy never gave Ginny Weasley any trouble. They nodded in the halls and did not attack each other at games. She did not contribute to Malfoy Bashing and he did not agree with the Slytherins insults toward her.

They were closer to being friends than they ever thought possible.


End file.
